Nationality British | Name Sir Bull | |
 | ||
Born 1672 ( 1672 ) Died 4 April 1742 (1742-04-05)
Chipping Ongar, Essex, England Spouse(s) Elizabeth Turner (1696-1738) | ||
Sir John Bull (1672-1742) was a prominent businessman in the City of London trading with the Levant, who served as Sheriff of London.
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Early life
Born about 1672, he was the youngest son of John Bull (1631-1715), a London businessman from Newport, Isle of Wight who was a shareholder in the Royal Africa Company and his wife Sarah. His elder sister Elizabeth was the first wife of Lieutenant-General William Tatton.
Career
Becoming a member of the Levant Company which controlled English trade with the Venetian and Ottoman empires, he was knighted on 27 October 1717 at Hampton Court Palace by King George I and served as Sheriff of London in 1718. Dying and buried at Ongar, his will was proved in London on 10 April 1742.
Family
After a brief first marriage, on 14 December 1717 in London he married Elizabeth Turner (1696-1738), daughter of Richard Turner (1653-1725), a London barrister, and his wife Elizabeth Goldsborough (1652-1737), whose family had property at Chipping Ongar in Essex. The couple moved to the White House at Ongar where they had eleven children, though only three lived long enough to marry. His son Richard Bull (MP) was a Member of Parliament and noted art collector. Of his daughters, Dorothy married John Lenham while Kitty (1732-1805) married the Reverend Charles Smith (1729-1803), rector of West Stoke in Sussex.